The Bishop as Absolute Monarch

Jules Gomes is a character one rarely sees in the silky old Church of England. He is a trouble maker. He is a kind of Luther for the Church of England–a rebel against the smooth establishment and the suave unctuousness of the Anglican hierarchy. He blogs at Rebel Priest and writes today about the absolute power that is held by Church of England bishops.

The Church of England hierarchy are going through their own long Lent at the moment and being investigated for their own cover up of historic sexual abuse accusations. We are seeing there some of the same incompetence, self serving, cover ups and dismissal of abuse victims and their accusations against deviant clergy.

As we are supposed to have learned in the Catholic Church, the systems of power enabled croneyism, nepotism, financial corruption and sexual misbehavior and then enabled it to be covered up, papered over and ignored.

If current stories from Rome are to be believed, however, our lessons have quickly been forgotten. Stories of homosexual orgies, drug fests, pornography, financial fraud and mismanagement at the highest levels continue to rock our church.

What is the problem? It is staring us in the face: men with great power and wealth are in positions where they are accountable to no one.